Cynara

Last updated

Cynara
Cynara cardunculus Prague 2011 3.jpg
Cynara cardunculus
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Subfamily: Carduoideae
Tribe: Cardueae
Subtribe: Carduinae
Genus: Cynara
L.
Synonyms [1]
  • ArcynaWiklund
  • BourgaeaCoss.
  • CynaropsisKuntze

Cynara is a genus of thistle-like perennial plants in the family Asteraceae. They are native to the Mediterranean region, the Middle East, northwestern Africa, and the Canary Islands. The genus name comes from the Greek kynara, which means "artichoke". [2]

Contents

Among the better known species in this genus include:

Cynara species are used as food plants by the larvae of many lepidopterans, such as the artichoke plume moth (Platyptilia carduidactyla), a pest of artichoke crops. [5]

C. cardunculus is being developed as a new bioenergy crop in the Mediterranean because of its high biomass and seed oil yields even under harsh conditions. [6] [7]

Species

The genus consists of the following species: [1] [8]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rennet</span> Complex of enzymes from the stomachs of young ruminant mammals, used in the production of cheese

Rennet is a complex set of enzymes produced in the stomachs of ruminant mammals. Chymosin, its key component, is a protease enzyme that curdles the casein in milk. In addition to chymosin, rennet contains other enzymes, such as pepsin and a lipase.

The globe artichoke is a species of thistle cultivated as a food. Artichoke may also refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cardoon</span> Species of flowering plant

The cardoon, also called the artichoke thistle, is a thistle in the family Asteraceae. It is a naturally occurring species that also has many cultivated forms, including the globe artichoke. It is native to the western and central Mediterranean region, where it was domesticated in ancient times and still occurs as a wild plant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pterophoridae</span> Moth family containing the plume moths

The Pterophoridae or plume moths are a family of Lepidoptera with unusually modified wings, giving them the shape of a narrow winged airplane. Though they belong to the Apoditrysia like the larger moths and the butterflies, unlike these they are tiny and were formerly included among the assemblage called "microlepidoptera".

<i>Scolymus</i> Genus of flowering plants

Scolymus is a genus of annual, biennial or perennial, herbaceous plants that is assigned to the family Asteraceae, and can be found in Macaronesia, around the Mediterranean, and in the Middle East. All species are spiny, thistle-like in appearance, with flowerheads that consist of yellow ligulate florets, and canals that contain latex. It is sometimes called golden thistle or oyster thistle, and is known as سكوليمس (skwlyms) in Arabic and scolyme in French.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Artichoke</span> Type of vegetable that is a species of thistle cultivated for culinary use

The globe artichoke, also known by the names French artichoke and green artichoke in the U.S., is a variety of a species of thistle cultivated as food.

<i>Onopordum</i> Genus of flowering plants

Onopordum, or cottonthistle, is a genus of plants in the tribe Cardueae within the family Asteraceae. They are native to southern Europe, northern Africa, the Canary Islands, the Caucasus, and southwest and central Asia. They grow on disturbed land, roadsides, arable land and pastures.

<i>Scolymus maculatus</i> Species of flowering plant

Scolymus maculatus is a spiny annual plant in the family Asteraceae, native to the Mediterranean region in southern Europe, southwest Asia, and northern Africa, and also the Canary Islands. It has pinnately incised prickly leaves and prickly wings along the stems, both with a white marginal vein. The yellow flowerheads stand solitary or with a few together at the tip to the stems, and subtended by more than five leaflike bracts. The plant is known as scolyme taché in French, cardogna macchiata in Italian, cardo borriquero in Spanish, and escólimo-malhado in Portuguese, חוח עקוד in Hebrew and سنارية حولية in Arabic. In English it is called spotted golden thistle or spotted oyster thistle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thistle</span> Common name of a group of flowering plants

Thistle is the common name of a group of flowering plants characterised by leaves with sharp prickles on the margins, mostly in the family Asteraceae. Prickles can also occur all over the plant – on the stem and on the flat parts of the leaves. These prickles are an adaptation that protects the plant from being eaten by herbivores. Typically, an involucre with a clasping shape similar to a cup or urn subtends each of a thistle's flower heads. The typically feathery pappus of a ripe thistle flower is known as thistle-down.

<i>Chamaerops</i> Genus of palms

Chamaerops is a genus of flowering plants in the family Arecaceae. It contains only one species, Chamaerops humilis, variously called European fan palm or the Mediterranean dwarf palm. It is one of the most cold-hardy palms and is used in landscaping in temperate climates.

<i>Catananche</i> Genus of flowering plants

Catananche is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. It is native to dry meadows in the Mediterranean region.

Artichoke oil is extracted from the seeds of the Cynara cardunculus (cardoon). It is similar in composition to safflower and sunflower oil. The fatty acid composition of artichoke oil is:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Petiole (botany)</span> Stalk holding a leaf to its stem

In botany, the petiole is the stalk that attaches the leaf blade to the stem. It is able to twist the leaf to face the sun, producing a characteristic foliage arrangement, and also optimizing its exposure to sunlight. Outgrowths appearing on each side of the petiole in some species are called stipules. The terms petiolate and apetiolate are applied respectively to leaves with and without petioles.

<i>Platyptilia carduidactyla</i> Species of plume moth

Platyptilia carduidactyla, the artichoke plume moth, is a moth of the family Pterophoridae described by Riley in 1869. It is found in New Zealand and North America, from Mexico north into the United States.

<i>Spilostethus pandurus</i> Species of true bug

Spilostethus pandurus is a species of "seed bugs" belonging to the family Lygaeidae, subfamily Lygaeinae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flor de Guía cheese</span> Soft to semi-hard cheese of Gran Canaria, Spain, made of cow, goat, or sheeps milk

Flor de Guía cheese is a Spanish cheese made on the island of Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands. It has Denomination of Origin protection. The cheese is classified as fatty or semi-fatty and made from the milk from Canarian sheep, with milk from Canarian cows and/or goats. The milk from the sheep must constitute at least 60% and cows’ milk content must never exceed 40%. Goat milk must never exceed 10% of the mixture. The cheese is presented in flat cylindrical cheeses which normally measure 4–8 cm high and 20–30 cm across and weighing between 2 and 5 kg. The cheese gets its name from an area in northern Gran Canaria called Santa María de Guía, where the cheese is made, and ‘flor’ from the fact that juice from the flowerheads of a species of cardoon and globe artichoke are used to curdle the milk.

<i>Cirsium vinaceum</i> Species of thistle

Cirsium vinaceum is a rare species of thistle known by the common name Sacramento Mountains thistle. It is endemic to Otero County, New Mexico, in the United States, where it is known only from the Sacramento Mountains. The plant can be found in six canyon systems in a southern section of this mountain range spanning about 32 kilometers. It is rare because it is limited to a specific type of mountain wetland which is both naturally uncommon and threatened by a number of forces. The plant was federally listed as threatened in 1987.

<i>Scolymus grandiflorus</i> Species of flowering plant

Scolymus grandiflorus is a spiny annual or biennial plant in the family Asteraceae, native to the Mediterranean region. With up to 75 cm high stems, it is the smallest of the species of Scolymus. Its stems are lined with uninterrupted spiny wings. It also has the largest flowerheads in the genus, of approximately 5 cm wide. It has yellow, sometimes yolk-yellow ligulate florets. Its vernacular name in Maltese is xewk isfar kbir, meaning "large yellow fin", cardogna maggiore in Italian, scoddi on Sicily, and scolyme à grandes fleurs in French.

<i>Cynara humilis</i> Species of plant in the genus Cynara

Cynara humilis, called wild thistle, is a species of flowering plant in the artichoke and cardoon genus Cynara native to the Canary Islands, Morocco, Algeria, Portugal, and Spain. It is used locally as a coagulant in artisanal sheep and goat cheesemaking.

References

  1. 1 2 Flann, C (ed) 2009+ Global Compositae Checklist
  2. Cynara. Flora of North America.
  3. Vioque, M., et al. (2000). Chemical and microbiological characteristics of ewes' milk cheese manufactured with extracts from flowers of Cynara cardunculus and Cynara humilis as coagulants. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 48(2), 451-56.
  4. Kyriazopoulos, A. P., et al. Edible plant species in rangeland ecosystems of Crete, Greece. [ permanent dead link ] In: Grassland farming and land management systems in mountainous regions. Proceedings of the 16th Symposium of the European Grassland Federation, Gumpenstein, Austria, 29–31 August 2011. pp. 505-07.
  5. Artichoke Plume Moth, Platyptilia carduidactyla. Integrated Pest Management. University of California. Updated 2009.
  6. Fernández, J., et al. (2006). Industrial applications of Cynara cardunculus L. for energy and other uses. Industrial Crops and Products 24, 222–29.
  7. The seed characteristics, seed composition, and allometric relationships predicting seed yields in the biomass crop Cynara cardunculus. Global Change Biology Bioenergy. 2-3, 113-129.
  8. Cynara. The Plant List.
  9. Hand, R. and G. Hadjikyriakou. (2009). Cynara makrisii (Asteraceae, Cardueae), a new artichoke species in Cyprus. Willdenowia 39(1) 77-81.